Tantalus, king of Sipylus, fathered Niobe, Pelops, and Broteas — children who inherited their father's entanglement with the gods and his cursed legacy.
⚠ Apollodorus (Epitome 2.2) names Dione, daughter of Atlas, as their mother; other sources give Euryanassa or Eurythemista.
Amphion and Niobe ruled as king and queen of Thebes. The Niobids — their seven sons and seven daughters — were slain by Apollo and Artemis after Niobe boasted of surpassing Leto.
⚠ Homer (Iliad 24.604) counts six sons and six daughters; Hesiod (fr. 183 MW) gives ten of each; the Apollodoran and later tradition settles on seven and seven.
Niobe stood before Leto's altar and declared herself the greater mother — fourteen children to Leto's two. Leto, burning with the insult, loosed Apollo and Artemis upon Niobe's sons and daughters until none remained.
Niobe and Amphion ruled Thebes, where Amphion's lyre had built the city's famous seven-gated walls. The slaughter of the Niobids by Apollo and Artemis devastated the royal house.
After Apollo and Artemis slew all fourteen children of Niobe and Amphion, Amphion stormed the temple of Apollo in fury and was struck down by the god's arrows beside the bodies of his sons.
⚠ Apollodorus says Amphion was killed by Apollo at the temple; Ovid's account implies suicide from grief.
After Apollo and Artemis slew Niobe's children, Zeus turned all the Thebans to stone for nine days so that none could bury the dead. On the tenth day the gods themselves performed the burial rites, and Zeus turned Niobe herself to stone on Mount Sipylus, where water still flows from the rock like tears.
We use cookies to understand how you use our site and improve your experience. Learn more